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Once every several weeks, for the last 38 years, I climb up on a counter stool and sit quietly while my wife trims the hair on all sides of my head. The last time she pulled a nasty trick. The trimmings she was dropping on the barber’s apron were a lot whiter, I was sure, than anything she could have found on my head.

She insists there was no trickery, and perhaps as I realize that I am in my sixth decade of gardening ,she is right. That leads me to the question I frequently ask myself and one that should be common in everyone’s mind. What did I learn recently?

For the gardener it would be “what did I learn this season?” Despite the gray hair and long history my list this season would be longer than this article permits. Let me talk about three.

I have always been afraid of mushroom soil but I was also keenly aware that my garden was lacking in organic material, so this year I gambled. A bit more than half of the trailer load of fresh mushroom soil was scattered and tilled into about five thousand square feet of garden. The results have been overwhelmingly favorable.

Last week I banked my asparagus with an inch or two. Banking the raspberries and the strawberries are also an inviting project for the near future.

My next learning experience and a half came with potatoes. Several years ago, a friend told of laying the seed potatoes on the surface of the ground and covering with hay. They grew through the hay and were easy to dig.

I modified that idea, covering them with spent potting soil rather than hay. It worked. When I want potatoes I go to the garden and pull the stalk. No digging tool needed.

Next year I will do it again with a few changes. My mound of covering material (spent potting soil in my case) will be larger. I am finding some exposed and sunburned potatoes. Since potatoes are heavy feeders, I will add a bit of extra mushroom soil on the surface before I lay the seed potatoes down.

The potatoes were also part of my experiment with diatomaceous earth. Beetles have always been a problem with beans and potatoes. This year I hand scattered diatomaceous earth across the foliage of the potatoes and the beans. It was working, so as I sensed that the beetle pressure was increasing, I turned the plant foliage almost white.

Beetle kill was excellent, but there was significant and almost total leaf damage. After the fact, I read that diatomaceous earth can be toxic to leaves under some conditions when used in excess. Next on my agenda is to find a duster to apply it more thoroughly and in much lower quantities.

I had visions of a metal duster like the one dad used. It most likely dated to the 1930ies. Twenty, maybe 25, websites later I realized that my only choice is a plastic one that sells for less than 50 dollars. Throw in the probable ten year supply of diatomaceous earth I bought for less than 20 dollars and I’ll soon have the beetles on the run for a long time.

I was just thinking. Diatomaceous earth is a white dust. Did I do the beans and the potatoes on haircut day? Anyway, with free haircuts that is a few more dollars that can be put toward my next garden project/experiment and learning experience.

Every time somebody out there gets 50 drops of rain I seem to get 10 or less. Couple that with the fact that my spring schedule dictates that most major planting I do is in the summer or fall I am beginning to notice my distaste for dragging a water hose.

I’m not worried about a substantial drought this season, but as the time between lawn mowings increases one must be watchful of some recent plantings. The larger the plant you installed, the quicker it will get into trouble.

Several days ago I drove past some larger, spring -planted trees in a sloping meadow. Maybe a third showed significant stress. My guess is that all will soon without rain or supplemental water. If you planted larger material be vigilant

With larger trees the rule of thumb is that each inch of trunk diameter equals the number of years before it is fully established. Thus, larger trees must be watched for two, three or even four years. Another guideline is to look at the canopy of a recently planted large tree. If you can see through it, it is not fully established.

My project is resurrecting a forty-plus year old landscape. I’m probably half way there but have paused looking for rain.

The project, in addition to planting, was twofold. Mostly neglected perennial beds became a battleground with the weeds. Hours of pulling, brief stints with the weed eater and several roundup visits and the weeds are beginning to think they are not wanted. Thinking about replanting, but waiting for rain.

Deciding the fate of forty-year-old shrubs was the second problem. This issue rears its ugly head in most landscapes after about 15 years. Plants that look tiny when we planted them get big and crowded. One approach is to rip everything out and start over. I’m not sure that is the best approach and not the one I took.

The best approach is to save what you can and evaluate the space requirements of new plantings. Every plant you save gives you existing structure. Careful selection of new plants postpones the need to rehabilitate in the future.

I removed just 11 plants. The five yews that were invading and blocking access to the front porch were easy targets. Two of their mates along a taller wall were welcome to remain. Four azaleas that were too friendly to lace bugs and crowded by the yews are gone.

A weigela that was born long before the plant breeders transformed this plant also left. Perhaps I should have said 10 in the last paragraph. A wisteria which was a beautiful standard (single trunk) 15 years ago had become a massive mound without attention. Visually it is gone but hundreds of ground sprouts remain a challenge.

Plantings include 18 shrubs. Final size was a big consideration near the front porch. The rest have plenty of room to grow as they wish. Beyond that it was a number of perennials and annuals. Even with mulch I make twice or thrice weekly visits with the garden hose. More planting waits for the rain.

The longest day just passed. It always seems ironic to me that the sun starts marching away from us at the start of summer when we experience our hottest weather and begins approaching at the beginning of winter when we are thinking about shivering.

It is now time to think about the fall vegetable garden.

We still have a few days to get some of the spring planted favorites into the garden. Planting a tomato plant now gives us a fresh supply as the season wanes in the fall. Often by that time our spring planted ones are starting to get tired.
I would consider doing the same with peppers, eggplants and melons if you haven't enough in the garden already. These are a bit dicey as the former two take a rather long season and the latter will experience flavor and fungus problems with a cold September.

I have planted sweet corn as late as July 14 with success. It sure tastes good in late September or early October. In that season it either needs to be sprayed well or you can just spit out the worms. My wife says you could cut them out if you wish. Indications are that with our recent mild winter the worms will be very bad this year.
String beans take just over 50 days to mature so you still have time to make another planting or two. I fear you might be a bit late for lima beans, but who can be sure.

The fall garden is built around the leafy crops. Actually, the cabbage family is best grown as a fall crop. I would plant cabbage starting about July 10 and conclude about August 10. Plant Brussels sprouts during the beginning of that period. Broccoli and cauliflower generally work for me if I have it in by August 20.

Cabbage worms will be a problem but using a natural Bt product on a weekly basis will give you a worm free crop. Begin when you plant. If you wait until you see the worms, control will require chemicals.

Lettuce, spinach, turnips and other greens can be planted in August. My thoughts again focus on the August 20 cut-off date.
Root crops like carrots, radishes and beets are also strong candidates. It seems the fall temperatures produce a better texture and a superior taste with these crops.

Early in August I hunt the leftover pea seed from spring and stick it in the ground. I don’t get results like spring planting, but a few meals of fresh peas sure taste good in the fall.

A good tip if you are thinking about fall vegetable gardening is to look at the number of days to maturity. That can offer a clue about your chances of success. It's just a clue, because the plants race during the warmth of late spring and summer days and slow down with the autumn coolness.

I recently read a quote that life is about trying things to see if they work. That idea is surely reflected in all our gardens and is most true for those of us that grow vegetables in the fall.

This is a bit more than a mere tale about purple coneflower. A few short years ago we all knew that coneflowers were purple. The serious gardener may have discovered that there were several shades and variations of purple with different petal widths and configurations.What we had were plants that were native to different parts of this country. There was also a native yellow one from the western part of the country.As coneflowers rode a wave of popularity, the plant breeders jumped into action. If you have visited a perennial nursery lately you will see the results. The color palette has exploded as marketers rushed new introductions into the market. My observation is that some of them are quite good and others should have lingered in the trial gardens until they were discarded.To this point I have ignored the fact that there has long been a white one. Many of us mixed a white one or two in with our purple ones only to watch them disappear in a year or two. Here is where this tale really starts.Three years ago I planted ten plants of one of the new yellow selections. Five plants were at either end of a medium sized garden. Today they number 18 individual clumps. They remain at either end of the garden but certainly not in the spots where they were planted.A count last week showed three light yellow ones, one dark yellow, two reddish purples, seven purple, two white and three that it was still too early to determine. One must draw the conclusion that coneflowers may be rather short lived but persist by reseeding.Additionally, coneflowers think that they should be purple and that seeds do not necessarily mimic the mother plant. That brings me back to the long existing white one. Over 95% of the seedlings of either the original white or purple plants would be purple if planted together. The white was the exception and almost certainly bound to disappear in a mixed planting.The moral to this story is that if you are planting one of the other than purple coneflowers they must be segregated if one hopes to retain the original color you bought. I’m sure this works with the white one but fear that the genetics of some of these new vegetative propagated ones is so twisted that they may not be stable under any circumstances if they produce new plants from seed.Going a bit further, many perennials that colonize or continue by reseeding will eventually return to the color of the dominant parent. An example is columbines, where a collection of many interesting colors will revert to a mass of muddy purple in several years. Pretty, yes, but still muddy purple and not what you started with.In grandmother’s day things were open pollinated and simple. Seeds generally duplicated the mother plant. With today’s hybrids and vegetative produced plants, seeds seldom, if ever, duplicate the mother plant.

     Now is the best time to tackle one of the most damaging pests I see in local landscapes. I’m talking about bagworms. The name is self descriptive as the larvae (newly hatched) build a bag around themselves as they feed from early June into early August. By August they are nearly sealed while hanging stationary on the branches of infected trees.
      Bagworms will attack more than 100 different trees and shrubs but they have their favorites. Most evergreens, but especially arborvitae, junipers, pine and spruce are favored. Left alone they can kill. Before that they just make ugly.
      Bagworms are a moth, so you get the egg, larvae, pupa, and adult cycle. To elaborate, the eggs hatch in early June. To repeat, the larvae feeds until early August. At that point they pupate which is the resting stage.
      The adults emerge in late August but remain in the bag. The female cannot fly and never leaves the bag. During September she releases a sex attractant pheromone. That brings the male, who can fly, out of his bag and they breed.
      Each female lays from 500 to 1000 eggs in her bag. The eggs overwinter in the bag and hatch in June.
Since the female doesn’t fly, bagworms will spread across a landscape rather slowly but individual plants can suffer severe and fatal damage. Wind can also carry the larvae to new locations. Infected nursery stock is another way to introduce the problem.
      Some birds will target the larvae but generally will not be significant in damage control. Limited infestations can be managed by hand picking. If you pick, either burn them or submerge them in soapy water or gasoline overnight. They are tough. Pulling them off and just discarding the bags will just spread the problem.
      My weapon of choice is a liberal spray coating of horticultural oil applied about the third week of June. At that point the eggs will have completely hatched and the larvae will be only slightly encased in their bags. As the larvae grow and the bag enlarges they become more difficult to control. When the bag is closed, they are resistant even to harsh chemicals.
Horticulture oil clogs the pores and the young larvae will suffocate. It will be as safe as soapy water which might work but I have no knowledge of it being tried.
      I have seen only one slight drawback. Several years ago I treated several rather large blue spruces that were heavily infested. One application did the job but drained the color out of the needles. It returned in less than a season.
      Bagworms are one nasty that isn’t hard to control if you realize that timing is everything.